SYDNEY, Oct 3 (AFP): Australia will not take any more refugees from Africa until at least the middle of next year, Prime Minister John Howard said Wednesday, triggering charges of a vote stunt ahead of national elections.
Howard rejected any suggestion of racism, saying Australia's 13,000-a-year refugee intake was being "rebalanced" from Africa to the Middle East and Asia where the need was more acute.
Howard said it was sometimes difficult for refugees to assimilate into the Australian community.
Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews said that even after July there was no guarantee the numbers would be reinstated.
The decision is a marked contrast to the situation two years ago, when 70 per cent of Australia's refugee intake came from Africa.
Refugee groups accused the government of picking on African refugees in the lead-up to elections expected to be held before the end of November.
Howard's conservative government is widely expected to lose the election.
Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said Howard was trying to replicate the boost he received with a tough stance on asylum seekers at the 2001 election.
On the eve of that election, the government refused to accept hundreds of mostly Afghan refugees whom the Norwegian freighter Tampa had plucked from the Indian Ocean.
Opposition Democrats senator Andrew Bartlett said the government was giving credence to far-right former lawmaker Pauline Hanson, who has accused African refugees of bringing disease into Australia.
Australia to close doors on African refugees
FE Team | Published: October 04, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
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